Title in the Language of the Records

Stato Civile di Pistoia, Italia.

Record Description

This collection of civil registration records for the years 1866-1929 includes births, marriages, death, and supplemental documentation files. Italian civil registration began officially as Italy became a unified country in 1860. The registration of birth, marriage, and death were kept on separate registers. By law, the original register was kept in the municipality archive (comune) and a copy was sent to the courthouse archive (tribunale); after a few years this copy would be transferred to the State Archive for preservation.

Supplemental files include a title page followed by several documents, such as:

Notes from hospitals regarding births or deaths

Notes from other towns or foreign countries (if a birth or death did not occur in the regular place of residence)

Marriage files

Marriage banns

Declarations of intention to marry

Other certificates

Generally, at the end of a civil register there is an alphabetical index by surname; however, not all years are indexed for each record type. Most records follow a generally accepted format, which is handwritten in narrative style and, in later years, formatted records. Some of the original records were damaged due to natural elements at the time of filming; therefore, some information may have been lost or hard to read, but they are readable for the most part. The text of the records is in Italian with some Latin included. This collection may be searched by browsing images in FamilySearch Historical Records.

For a list of records by localities and dates currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

Citations for This Collection

The following citation refers to the original source of the data and images published on FamilySearch.org Historical Records. It may include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.

Record Content

The key genealogical facts found on most birth records include the following information:

Date of birth

Place of birth

Name of the child

Parents’ names

The key genealogical facts found on most marriage records include the following information:

Date of marriage

Place of marriage

Names of the groom and bride

Ages of the groom and bride

Residence of all

Parents’ names

Witnesses’ names

The key genealogical facts found on most death records include the following information:

Date of death

Place of death

Time of death

Cause of death

Sometimes the parents’ names

How to Use the Record

Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Use the locator information in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the birth, marriage, or death records.

Compare the information in the birth record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination. Be aware that as with any index, transcription errors may occur.

When you have located your ancestor’s birth record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors.

For example:

Use the birth date along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.

Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.

The father’s occupation can lead you to other types of records, such as employment or military records.

The parents' birth places can tell you former residences and can help to establish a migration pattern for the family.

It is often helpful to extract the information on all children with the same parents. If the surname is unusual, you may want to compile birth entries for every person of the same surname and sort them into families based on the names of the parents. Continue to search the birth records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who were born in the same county or nearby.

Keep in mind:

The information in birth records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.

Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800s.

There is also some variation in the information given from record to record.

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